Missing Chinese Activist Wins Award

Published 7:00 pm, Wednesday, September 11, 2002

BEIJING (AP) _ A missing Chinese AIDS activist who reportedly has been detained by China's secret police was named the recipient Thursday of a health award given by U.S. and Canadian groups.

Wan Yanhai, who was last seen Aug. 25 in Beijing, is being recognized for publicizing an unsanitary Chinese blood-buying industry that infected thousands of people with the AIDS virus, according to the award's sponsors. They said Wan was the first recipient of the annual award.

Wan's wife, Su Zhaosheng, is to accept the Award for Action on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights on his behalf Friday in Montreal, said a statement by one of the sponsors, New York-based Human Rights Watch. Su lives in Los Angeles.

A friend and activists abroad, citing Chinese sources, said last week that Wan was detained on charges of "leaking state secrets" for distributing a government report on AIDS.

"Dr. Wan has been on the front lines of fighting an epidemic that Chinese authorities would prefer to sweep under the rug," said a statement issued by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, another sponsor of the award.

Human Rights Watch criticized Wan's reported detention.

"China has imprisoned a man who is one of its best allies in the fight against a lethal disease," its statement quoted Joanne Csete, director of its AIDS program, as saying.

The award is intended to "recognize individuals or organizations that have made an outstanding contribution to addressing HIV/AIDS and human rights issues," according to the Canadian group's Web site.

Chinese authorities have not confirmed whether Wan is in government custody. Asked Thursday about the case, Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said, "I have nothing to offer."

It wasn't clear whether the decision to present the award to Wan was prompted by reports of his detention. None of the sponsors was immediately available for comment. However, the nomination deadline listed on the Canadian group's Web site was June 14, more than two months before Wan was last seen.

Wan, a former Chinese Health Ministry official, founded the anti-AIDS group Aizhi Action Project in 1994 to fight discrimination against homosexuals and people with AIDS.

He received international attention last year when he called attention to the blood-buying industry in the central province of Henan that infected thousands of poor villagers.

Blood sellers were reinjected with pooled blood after buyers removed important components, making it possible for one infected person to spread the AIDS virus to many others.

After denying for years that AIDS was a problem, China has begun to release information on the disease.

The Health Ministry said last week that China expects to have 1 million people infected with AIDS virus by the end of this year. It said that number could reach 10 million by the end of this decade without proper prevention measures.

However, the communist government is still uneasy about independent activists.

Wan's group was effectively banned in July when it was stripped of its legal registration and expelled from its offices.

A friend and fellow activist, Hu Jia, said last week that Wan also might have been detained as part of efforts to suppress dissent before a major Communist Party meeting in November.